Winner of the 2001 Newbery. I really liked this! It's set in Depression-era Illinois and it's about a girl who gets sent to live with her grandmother for a year. Nice little slice-of-life historical fiction with memorable characters and some surprisingly funny moments.

This is just a wonderful book. The way it just picks you up and drops you into the middle of the depression in rural Illinois, where people were tough and plucky and full of sayings like "as skinny as a toothpick with a termite problem."

I wanted to keep this by my bedside and read it all year long. The way they go through the seasons, describing things like turkey shoots, cobbled-together nativity plays, and how to make pies out of pecans and pumpkins you steal from your neighbors... it all reminded me of the charms of The Little House on the Prairie books, with the wry humor and good storytelling of To Kill a Mockingbird. I wish the book had kept going! How about three years down yonder?

Delightful read! You might think this is a children's book but not so, it is suitable for all ages. We shall look for other titles by this author. Funny, charming and memorable tales of life with Gramma through the eyes of Mary Alice. How Gramma deals with Mary's bully is worth the read alone!And Gramma sorting out Mrs. Weidenbach the town's self-appointed "leader" and DAR "leader" is not less entertaining than reading how Shotgum Cheatham became a hero. Do yourself a favour and read this!

Age

Summary

set in 1937 during the so-called "Roosevelt recession" tight times compel Mary Alice a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the time doesn't "even have a picture show." This wining sequel once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her grandma Dowel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with "eyes in the back of her heart." ( Novelist Review)